"Do Not Envy the Man of Violence"

(Proverbs 3:31-32)

Introduction: The power of identification is very powerful in our culture

today. Everyone wants to have someone that he or she can identify with,
someone who seems to have it all together, at least the way that they think it
should be. And our society, especially by way of television, has no shortage
of such persons. It presents many role models from which to choose. Everyone
has someone that they admire. All of you identify with someone, someone who
is your hero. It may be one that you are not afraid that others know about,
or one which is secret. But you must be very careful which person you choose.
As I've already said, the power of identification is great. You can become so
infatuated with someone that you begin to talk and act like them. You can
even begin to take on their personality. This is exactly what makes peer
pressure so threatening. If all of your friends begin to do something, then
i t can make you feel as though you have to do i t too. \olhen I was in high
school, I had a friend who was the son of professing Christians. He and some
of his friends were all infatuated with the movie "American Graffitti." And
all of them began to live as though they were back in the fifties. They
walked around with blue jeans, sun glasses, and t~shirt.s with packs of
cigarettes rolled up in the sleeves. They also talked and acted like the
characters in the movie. Role models can have a very real affect on your
lives. The most dangerous thing about them is that the devil, who is the very
real enemy of our souls, knows the power of role models and will do everything
that he ean to exploit them to their full potential. But the question we want
to ask this morning is whether or not we should ever identify with any role
model which the world presents us. Since we are called to live godly,
shouldn't our role models be godly? Aren't we called only to imitate the
good, and not the evil? Solomon tells us that God's will is not fuzzy here.
He tells us plainly what it is that we are to avoid, and by implication, what
we are to imitate. And the principle of wisdom that he is teaching here is,

You sbOllld not envy the {,;Ticked, nor should you im.Hate them, for to
be a friend of the world. is to be an enemy o.f the Lord, but to live
righteously is to be the Lord's .friend.

I. First, the Lord Is WarRing You This Morning Not to Choose a Bad Role
Model for Your Life.
A. Solomon Writes, "DO NOT ENVY A MAN OF VIOLENCE, AND DO NOT CHOOSE
ANY OF HIS WAYS."
1. A man of violence is a man who is characterized by violence, by
cruelty, and oppression.
a. It is not the kind of violence whicb may be necessary in any
culture, sucl1 as the violence that a soldier must do when he
is fighting in a just war to overcome Ilis enemy. or that which
the policeman must do to catcb the cr.iminal he is c11asing.
b. Rather, i t refers to SINFUL violence, that wh.ich is born of
an evil motive.
(1) It refers to the kind of vio.lence which .!oab committed
with he killed two more righteous than be: Abner and
Amasa.
(ii) It re.fers to that sinful violence which Ahab committed
when he .framed Naboth in order to steal his vineyard.
(iii) It is that kind of violence wh.ich abounded in the days of
Noah, which caused the Lord to destroy tIle world. God
said, "THE END OF ALL FLESH HAS COME BEFORE ME; FOR THE
EARTH IS FILLED WITH VIOLENCE BECAUSE OF THEM; AND
BEHOLlJ, I AM ABOUT TO DESTROY THEM WITH THE EARTH" (Gen.
6:13).
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(iv) Sinfu.l violence is something which God hates.

2. Is it any wonder then, that the Lord tells us that we are not to
envy such peopl e?
a. Envy, in and of itself, is always sin. .It is simply another
form of covetousness, which is forbidden in the tenth
commandment (Ex. 20: 17). We should never covet anything which
the Lord has given to our rJeighbor, whether it is good or bad.
b. But to envy our neighbor, if he is a man of violence reveals
an even deeper problem in our hearts.
(i) Why would we or anyone be envious of a man of violence?
(ii) Don't you ever ask yourself that question when you see
all the gang activity going on, al.l of the drive by
shootings, all of the street fights? Somehow violence
is attractive to many.
(LU) Haven /t you seen the switch in modern movies and sho~7s,
that the good guy is no longer the hero, but the bad
guy is?
(iv) And what are the most popular kinds of movies today but
those in which there is a lot of violence? Something
is happening. Something .is being lost.
(v) The influence of Christianity, which was so strong in
the founding of tIlis nation, has so decayed as to be
almost complete.ly gone.
(vi) Whatever left-over effects the revjvals of a century
ago had produced are all but lost.
(vii) The depravity of the human heart is expressing itself
more and more in our day. Man is no more wicked than
he used to be, but there is .less in the way of gracious
restraint by God.
(viii) Man is delighting in greater and greater evil.

3. M whether it be great evi.l or small, Solomon's message is

clear, "DO NOT CHOOSE ANY OF H.IS WAYS."
a. Paul, in writing of the men of this world, says "THEIR FEET
ARE SWIFT TO SHED BLOOD, DESTRUCTION AND MISERY ARE IN THEIR
PATHS, AND THE PATH OF PEACE THEY HA.VE NOT KNOWN. THERE IS
NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES" (Rom. 3: 15-18).
b. Surely, if you want to serve and honor the Lord, such men
and women of the world cannot be your role models. To chose
their ways would be to chose the path of evil "-'M.i'v ci<!:.:----rtv.

B. What Are1ifJ.1e Models Like? What Is I t t11at Is Attracting You?

1. Do you i(lentify with the one who uses his fists and his guns to
solve his prob.lems?
2. Do you envy the one who has t.fJe superior strength and fighting
skills to pusb anyone who doesn /t agree w.ith him out of his way?
3. Have you imitated their attitudes toward authority? Is your
motto, "Quest.ion authority"?
4. Why would I even have to ask you this question? Why would evil
ever be attractive to you?
a. Isn /t the Christian supposed to love righteousness and hate
lawlessness? Isn't the Law of God written on your heart,
and isn /t the Spirit of God that which motivates you to love
and good works? Yes, all these things ajre true.
b. But it aJso true that the Christian will continue to struggle
with sin all the rest of his or her life. All of you wlw are
Christ /s still must wrestle with the flesh until the Lord
ca1.ls you to put off this morta.l coil and come home.
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c. And i t is for this reason that you must examine your role
models to see what i t is that attracted you to it, and whether
or not i t is influencing YOll towards godliness or lawlessness.

II. And This Br.lngs Us to the Reasons Which Solomon Gives Us As to Why We
Should Not Envy the Vio}ent.
A. He Writes, "FOR THE CROOKED MAN IS AN ABOMINATION TO THE LORD. fI
1. Notice that he uses a broader ward to describe this man.
a. A croaked man is a man who walks a crooked path. That is,
his feet are not on the path of God's righteousness, Ali
v.iolent men walk this path. But a.Iso all wJ1O~:fn this world J
who do not live according to God's Law.
b. Remember, Solomon t.;rote the book of Proverbs to g.ive the
young and old alike the wisdom to stay off the crooked path.
In Chapter 2: 10-15, he writes, "FOR WISDOM WILL ENTER YOUR
HEART, AND KNOWLEDGE WILL BE PLEASANT TO YOUR SOUL;
DISCRETION WILL GUARD YOU, UNDERSTANDING WILL WATCH OVER
YOU, TO DELIVER YOU FROM THE WAY OF EVIL, FROM THE MAN WHO
SPEAKS PERVERSE THINGS; FROM THOSE WHO LEAVE THE PATHS OF
UPRIGHTNESS, TO WALK IN THE WAYS OF DARKNESS; WHO DELIGHT IN
DOING EVIL, AND REJOICE IN THE PERVERSITY OF EVIL; WHOSE
PATHS ARE CROOKED, AND WHO ARE DEVIOUS IN THEIR WAYS."
c. The path of righteousness is straight, as Bunyan wrote in
Pilgrim's Progress, "As straight as a rule can make it." It
is the right way, the way that is only revealed to us in
God Law.
d. The path of wickedness, on the other hand, is a twisted
path, which runs endlessly in the wrong directions. Perhaps
i t seems to intersect the good road from Lime to time, but
only superficia.lly, ol1ly when an outwa.rd show of
righteousness is needed for some evil purpose. But even
then, i t only looks like i t touches, i t never really does.
e. The crooked man walks a crooked path for his rule is his own
and not the fJord's.

2. God says that such men are an abomination to Him.

a. They are something so horrible, so repulsive; as to be
detestable in His sight.
b. And the reason that they are is that when they cast off and
reject the law of God, they reject and cast away God
Himself. They refuse the fear of the Lord to walk in their
own ways. Solomon writes, "HE WHO WALKS IN HIS UPRIGHTNESS
FEARS THE LORD, BUT HE WHO IS CROOKED IN HIS IiIAYS DESPISES
HIM" (Prov. 14:2).
c. And to despise the Lord is 110 insignificant matter. God is
infinitely holy and infinitely worthy. To despise Him is to
commit cosmic treason, and to became a stench in His
110strils. So.it is with all who have rebelled against Him.

3. Since, to know and love God is life itself, how foolish i t is to

turn from His path to walk the path of the unrighteous. It is
to thrown all hope of happiness and blessing out of your life.
a. How much then should we resist imitating the wicked, to
imitate the righteous.
b. The Lord abhors the way of the wicked. And i f you set aside
His commandments to walk in your own ways, you too will be
an abomination in His sight.
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B. But Solomon Gives Us an Even Better and More Glorious Reason to Not
Envy the Wicked o[ Tllis World. "HE IS INTIMATE WITH THE UPRIGHT."
1. The upright are those who keep their feet on the patll of
righteousness, no matter where i t leads them, and no matter what
.it costs them personally. They know that God requires per[ect
obedience, and even though tlley can't reach that goal, they
still strive towards i t with all their might, trusting in God's
mercy in Christ to make up for their infinite failures.
2. With these, God has a very special relationship. They are His
intimate friends, His close circle of conFidants. This .is the
relationship which Jesus entered with His disciples. He said,
'WO LONGER DO I CALL YOU SLA VES, FOR THE SLAVE DOES NOT KNOW
WHAT HIS MASTER IS DOING; BUT I HAVE CALLED YOU FRIENDS, FOR
ALL THINGS THAT I HAVE HEARD FROM MY FATHER I HAVE MADE' KNOWN TO
YOU" (John 15:15).
a. These are those who ought to be envied, not the wicked.
b. The righteous are in His covenant, and have all the
blessings which are in it, through faith in Christ.
c. Cha.des Bridges writes, "Sinners are an abomination. Saints
are his delight. 'They are God's friends, to whom he
familiarly imparts, as men used to do to their friends, bis
mind and counsels, or his secret favour and comforts to
wh.ich other men are strangers" (Proverbs 40).
d. What are these "favours and comforts"?
(i) Tbey are such blessings as commun.ion with the Father
and the Son. Jesus said, "HE WHO HAS MY COMMANDMENTS
AND KEEPS THEM, HE IT IS WHO LOVES ME; AND HE WHO LOVES
ME SHALL BE LOVED BY MY FATHER, AND I WILL LOVE HIM,
AND WILL DISCLOSE MYSELF TO HIM. • • • IF ANYONE LOVES
ME, HE WILL KEEP MY WORD; AND MY FATHER lULL LOVE HIM,
AND WE WILL COME TO HIM, AND MAKE OUR ABODE WITH HIM"
(John 14:21, 23).
(i.i) Another is peace. Jesus said, "THESE THINGS I HAVE
SPOKEN TO YOU, THAT IN ME YOU MAY HAVE PBACE. IN THE
WORLD YOU HAVE TRIBULATION, BUT TAKE COURAGE; I HAVE
OVERCOME THE WORLD" (Jobn 16:33).
(ii:i) Another is joy, along with all the other fruits of the
Spirit's indwelling, "BUT THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT IS
LOVE, JOY, PEACE, PATIENCE, KINDNESS, GOODNESS,
FAITHFULNESS, GENTLENESS, SELF-CONTROL" (Gal. 5: 22-23) •
(iv) In short, they are all those blessings which Christ has
earned for His people.
(v) Seeing God's attitude toward each of these groups, whom
wil.l you choose to ~imitate? Will you envy the wicked
of the world and imitate them? I f you do, you will
share in their destruction. Por the Lord w.ill sweep
all the abominable away from Him on the day of His
judgment.
(v:i) Or will you imitate the way of the righteous? The
psalmist writes, "FOR A DAY IN THY COURTS IS BETTER THAN
A THOUSAND OUTSIDE. I WOULD RATHER STAND AT THE
THRESHOLD OF THE HOUSE OF MY GOD, UlAN DWELL IN THE TENTS
OF WICKEDNESS" (Ps. 84: 10). Don't go the way of the
world and imitate their heroes. Don't tbrow away all the
rich blessings of communion with Christ "",1hich the Lord
offers you through faith in Him! But embrace the Savior
and serve Him. Make those who love Him and are most like
Him your closest companions. Wa.lkin the path of
uprightness, and enjoy communion with God forever. Amen.